Mike Livanos has been selected as the first ever UMRFC Alumnus of the Month.
Years Played: 1998-2002
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Club: Oxy Olde Boys
Occupation: Film/TV Director
When did you play?
My career began in the fall of 1998 when I searched out the club at Festifall. I was greeted by Wadde, Punisher, and Ashby Kinch. At the time, the men’s club and student team were one club, with the students breaking off on their own for a fall playoff run only. This lead to a lot club guys at the time having a huge social influence on me. Among them were David Perpich, Tom Clark, Tony Menyhart, Masso, Dale Tuttle, Stulie, Hagan, Sam El Ebrashi and newly graduated Scotty Salamango.
Eventually I stretched my education to a ninth semester in the fall of 2002, mostly because I wasn’t ready to leave the college rugby atmosphere. I also looked forward to mixing it up with a new crop of freshmen. By that time the future of the club was taking shape. Those last couple falls had so many great future leaders out there just learning how to ruck and maul. I remember an 18 year old Matt Trenary tackling me particularly hard at training, and meeting Karl during a recruiting trip One Up and I took to Markley.
Also by that time, seeing Craig Williams take charge of the team gave me a lot of pride. He claimed he was on the fence about coming back from a broken ankle his freshmen year before I sat with him in a greek history class and sold him on returning. Wes Farrow was also making amazing changes in the program on and off the field. I don’t know which I admire more, his implementing of the tradition of volunteer work during tours or his selfless inspiring play and leadership within the forward pack. However, the single biggest change in the club play on the field was at the hands of Andrew Finn. He returned from a stint in Austrailia about that time and did an amazing job of adding passion and structure to the already flourishing tradition Craig Williams was leading at the moment. His taking of the reigns completed the cycle and made the club Midwest champions
Any special honors?
The club was floundering a bit in the fall of 1999. Facing the official split from the men’s club that we knew was coming in the winter, we were struggling to figure out how to survive on our own. Since our de facto leader Ryan Gaylor (a huge influence on me) had moved on to play with the men’s club after the fall season, Tony Menyhart encouraged me to take charge of the squad. With the support of our franchise freshmen Mike Cavnar and Andrew Marcus, I was elected the first Captain of the brand new college only club. It was quite an intimidating task having just turned 20 and only half way through my sophomore year. Since we were having trouble getting even 15 people to travel for an A & B match, I focused the club more towards building through social recruiting for the next year or so.
The on-field achievements of the the club under my leadership were quite modest, but beating GVSU to gain entry into the playoffs the following fall of 2000 seemed huge at the time. I remember pissing off some upperclassmen that game by selecting two rookies to start their first A-side matches at lock, but it paid off big in the scrum. Those two dudes were sophomore Andrew Finn and 17 year old freshman Sultan Sharrief. I remember Marcus blowing their minds with his game winning drop goal. Marcus was probably the best player I ever played with. Other than that, I was simply happy to finally beat MSU in the fall of ’01, since the best we had done before that was playing to a tie under the Friday lights at Elbel in the fall of ’99 when Gaylor was still skipper.
Favorite memory or memories?
The big tours we took changed me forever. Stulie pushed us to go to England in the Winter of 2001. Playing clubs older than the University of Michigan itself was quite humbling. Our Trinidad and Tobago tour was great not only because we won matches, but also for the camaraderie. I remember our day laying around eating Shark burgers on Maracas beach as one of those rare transcendent moments in life. Memories from that tour haven’t faded a bit. Argentina was unbelievable. The fun was amplified because they loved Americans so much at the time and our dollars went a long way. I’m pretty sure plenty of the locals in Mar Del Plata still believe all Americans wear mustaches and speedos at all times because of us.
What are you doing now?
I live in Los Angeles with my wife Catie. Plenty of ruggers attended our wedding just a couple months ago. Their role in the merrymaking is something I am very grateful for and no one in my family will every forget.
Many of my closest friends are U of M ruggers from my era who have also moved out here. We play casually for the Oxy Olde Boys, a club associated with Occidental College.
My work life is in television and film. Throughout my career I’ve produced some film, T.V. and commercial content, but my primary living is made working freelance as an Assistant Director in Television. Lately I’ve been working with Comedy Central quite a bit. A new show I did called “Key and Peele” comes out January 31st. My steady show is called “Workaholics”. I love my job. Although my hours are long, its easy to stay positive when I remember that my day to day stresses revolve around immature humor.
Any other interesting stories or info?
I’ll say only that I value the relationships I gained through being part of UMRFC above almost anything in my life. From the local late night bonding sessions to the overnight van trips, I credit the social influence and life education the club provided me for a lot of the success and happiness I associate with my life. I’m lucky my wife picked me and that I was born into the best family ever, but as far as life decisions go, joining the University of Michigan Rugby Football club was one of the best I ever made.
